Big personalities on Big 104

EDITOR’S NOTE: Full disclosure – in case you didn’t know, both Mike Dow and Deb Neuman write columns on a freelance basis to The Maine Edge. However, we still think it’s cool that they have their own radio show together. If you are a DJ with a new radio show, we’d love to write a story about you too. Drop us a line (seriously!).

BANGOR – Hearts were broken when “The Mike and Mike Show” ended, but we were assured that the shows would go on in their respective studios and they are. Mike Elliot joined Kat Walls on The Bear, and Mike Dow headed up the stations for Big 104 FM. He is now being joined by Deb Neuman in the mornings for one big morning show. Mike Dow gave us the skinny on what listeners can expect.

“It’s going to be a fun, upbeat show with an emphasis on the music. On Big 104, we play the biggest hits of the ’60s ’70s and ’80s – which is essentially a 25-year span,” said Dow in an email interview. “That’s a lot to cover, and we really like to mix it up. In an average 20-minute period, you might hear The Beatles, The Cars, John Mellencamp and The Bee Gees. It’s a great mix of music.”

Among the regular daily features on “The Big Morning with Mike Dow” is trivia at 6:15 a.m. to help “get the brain working.” At 7:15 a.m. they play “So you Think you Know Maine,” a Maine-based trivia game. At 8:15 a.m. is “The Timeline,” where Dow gives listeners several events that took place in the same year and callers try to identify the correct year to become the “Master of Time, Space and Dimension” for the day.

Knowing that most radio listeners in the morning are keen to be up-to-date on news, weather and sports, they plan to dish out just that – with a little Neuman.

“Deb Neuman joins me to cover that information, and from time to time you’ll hear the two of us talking about some of the more unusual stories of the day. Our listeners will hear things on our show that they will not hear anywhere else,” said Dow. “I get up every day around 2 a.m. and start working. By the time I roll into the station at 4 a.m., I have accumulated far more material than we can possibly share, but we get of as much of it as we can over five hours.”

But Big 104 covers a huge amount of Maine, including Bangor, Augusta and Bar Harbor, and Dow said they hope to include local coverage so listeners from Portland to Island Falls and from Eastport to Greenville will know what’s going on in their towns.

Fans of “The Mike and Mike Show” will be pleased to know that their friendship lives on off the air.

“We do the show in the same building where we did ‘The Mike and Mike Show.’ We just moved down the hall into a new studio set up for this show. Mike Elliott is just across the hall with Katrina Walls on The Bear. We meet up in the hallway sometimes during a song and do a little show there, just for ourselves,” said Dow. “Mike and Mike will always be the best of friends, even if we’re not doing a show together. ‘The George Hale/Ric Tyler Show’ is next door, so we get to hang out with those guys too. It’s all one big family.”

There are big plans in the works, some not available for full disclosure at the moment, but Dow was able to say, “We’re coming to your town, we’ll help you party down,” he said. “There, I did it. I had a bet with Deb Neuman that I could work a Grand Funk Railroad reference into this interview.”

Dow was thrilled to work with Neuman on his show, saying that they’ve been friends for years.

“I’m sure most listeners are familiar with her show ‘Back to Business,’ which airs every Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on The Voice of Maine. I’ve always loved that show, and once in a while, I’m fortunate enough to be the ‘guest producer on the show,” he said. “She is absolutely brilliant, but also hilarious. She’s done everything from running an inn on the coast to her current side-business, Maine Dock Designs. I was stunned when I found out the Deb agreed to be on the show with me. I think I said something like, ‘Are you serious? I get to work with Deb every day? Did she have a fever when she agreed to that?’ She is some kind of wonderful. Hey! A second Grand Funk reference. I get bonus points for that!”

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